http://my.hsj.org http://my.hsj.org en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Sat, 18 May 2013 06:27:19 GMT 15 By Tessa Byrns
Most teenagers can’t wait to turn 21 years old. Many milestones in a young adult’s life mark it: like being in college, living on their own, being able to legally gamble and drink. Numerous teenagers await the day they will be able to drink legally. But with discussions about a possibility that the drinking age could be lowered, that could all change. Some states are actually considering lowering the drinking age. Colorado has yet to get on board with this initiative to make it a national issue. However, the college presidents of schools like the State University of New York–Potsdam, Duke University and the University of Miami are in discussions with their state lawmakers about lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. The college presidents say that if 18-year-olds are old enough to fight for their country and to vote, then they should be able to drink legally. These college presidents want to eliminate binge drinking by exposing students to this dangerous activity sooner. In our culture teens want to drink because it’s glamorized in the media. But in reality teens that binge drink in college could end up dying from alcohol poisoning. Many public officials are considering every side of this issue, just like the mayor of Centennial, Randy Pye. “It’s mostly college kids binge drinking. They’re not at home so they’re free to experiment,” Pye said. “The college presidents are probably saying since they can’t control kids from binge drinking let’s make it someone else’s problem.” This is a bad idea. Teens who are able to get their hands on alcohol already tend to make poor decisions and endanger their own and other’s lives by making bad decisions. Lowering the drinking age will increase these problems. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and car insurance companies are very adamant about not letting this happen. “There’s a limited number of kids who drink under 21. I can only guess that other kids will party more often than study,” Pye said. Drinking and driving could leave a family scarred and wounded if a teen decided at the young age of 18 that they were responsible enough to handle drinking and then driving. Doing this provides danger to the teens, for example, talking to strangers to get alcohol. Lowering the drinking age when teens are already getting in car accidents at an alarming rate is unbelievable. According to Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) there were 7,460 motor vehicle deaths of both drivers and passengers in 2005 due to impaired driving of an illegal drinker between the ages of 15-20. That’s nearly 75 percent of car crashes. 28 percent of 15–20-year-old drivers who were killed in motor vehicle crashes had been drinking. How does law enforcement intend on keeping down the rate of drinking and driving if the legal drinking age is just two years older than the legal driving age? At age 15 most teens get their permits. At age 16, teens get their licenses, but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is trying to change that. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is even trying to raise the legal driving age to 17 or 18. They are trying to reduce accidents made by young drivers. Raising the driving age is unnecessary if the college presidents don’t succeed in their pursuit to get the drinking age lowered. There would be no reason to raise the driving age. Lowering the drinking age is just fueling the fire of teens getting into accidents from driving drunk and other drunk drivers. It would also be an insult to those who have died and those who have had someone die in a drunk driving accident. ]]> Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:47:00 GMT